The book of Hebrews is a book on maturity. In order to be brought on to maturity we need to cross the river. Whenever we have a handicap or are unable to go on, that is the time for us to cross the river. Just as the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and the Jordan River, we must cross river after river.
What does it mean to be mature? Throughout the years, we have learned that if we are in ourselves or are individualistic, we are immature. If we are trying to be holy, spiritual, or victorious, that also is immaturity. Real maturity is not only in our spirit, but also in the church life. The church life is the sign of our having become mature. As a result of my watching and observing for almost fifty years, I can testify that there is no real maturity in life outside the church. Real maturity can only be found in the church life.
The Hebrew believers to whom this book was written were staggering in their Christian life. They were wondering in their mind whether to go on or to go back. At that very point, this book was written to encourage them to go on.
The best way to go on is to forget everything. Once we forget everything, we shall go on. We may spend much time to consider our environment, our past, our future, and all the things related to it, yet we would not spend one hour in going on. Many times dear saints have come to me asking about the past, present, future, and many other things. I became famous for never answering their questions. I only gave them one word of advice: “Go on. Don’t talk and don’t remember your past. You should even forget the present and not care for the future. If you really want to go on, then just go on.” Those who are going on the best are those who do not remember anything. Consider the runners in a race. While they are running, they have no time to think of anything else. They only know one thing — running the race.
Here we see a basic principle: if anyone of us has fallen from the right track, or has stopped running in the race and then is stirred up to go on, he should not hesitate or ask questions. He should just go on. When many of the young people are stirred up to go on with the Lord, some of them are concerned with what they should do before they can go on, wondering whether the Lord will forgive them or be happy with them. If you are like this, it will be difficult for you to go on with the Lord. If you mean business with the Lord, simply go on with Him. Forget about whether He will forgive you or be happy with you. Do not take time to consider such things until you have reached the goal and gained the prize. Do not wonder whether you are right or wrong — just go on.
According to Hebrews 6, to go on does not need the laying of another foundation. Suppose the brothers who are building a new meeting hall have laid the foundation, but have become frustrated and have stopped working. After they are stirred up to continue working on the meeting hall, should they start over from the beginning and lay another foundation? No, that would be foolish. If they did that a few times, the whole building site would be filled with foundations. There would be no walls, roof, or building, only many foundations. Although doing such a thing would be foolish, many Christians, including myself, have done this very thing in their Christian life. In the early years of my Christian life, I laid many foundations. After I had been revived, I would gradually go down again. Then, after being stirred up again, I would purposely and thoroughly go back to the beginning to repent and make confession all over again. This is what it means “to renew again to repentance,” which is to lay again “a foundation of repentance.” After a while, I would be distracted again and then go back to confess and make confession still another time. Finally, I became tired of this, but I did not know what to do. One day, as I was reading Hebrews chapter six, I realized how foolish I had been. I did not need to repent again of what I had repented already or go back to the beginning to make another thorough confession. I simply needed to go on.
Most of the so-called revivals in today’s Christianity only stir up people to go back and lay another foundation again and again. A famous preacher comes and stirs the people up. After a few months they begin to go down, and another preacher comes to revive them once again. Each time the people are revived they lay another foundation. Most Christians lay the same foundation again and again. This is why we need Hebrews 6.
We should forget about laying another foundation and just go on. Do not consider whether the Lord will forgive you or not — just go on until you reach the goal. Once you have been stirred up to go on with the Lord, you do not need that much repentance. Repentance has been overemphasized in today’s revivalistic Christianity. Nearly every revivalist has learned one skill — to stir up people to repentance. But now I must tell you that you do not need to repent that much. The Lord is bored with your repentance. In a sense, the Lord is disgusted with so many repenting prayers. He wants to see you going on, not repenting of the same thing over and over again. To go on simply means to cross the river, to go from one side to another, from one stage to another, from one standing to another. Do not talk or consider. Go on. Leave your old concepts, understandings, doctrines, and teachings, and go on. The faster you go on, the better.
If we are to go on, we must leave the word of the beginning of Christ (6:1). This means that we must leave the foundation stage, the milk stage, and the baby stage. As we have seen in the previous message, the word of the beginning of Christ is the milk for the babes in Christ. In order to go on we must leave the doctrines we received at the beginning and no longer feed on baby food. We must go on from the baby stage to maturity by feeding on the solid food, which is the word of righteousness (5:13-14) ministered to us in this book.
The foundation has already been laid, and there is no need to lay it again (6:1). The foundation is of six things: repentance from dead works, faith toward God, teaching of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment (vv. 1-2). This is the foundation of our Christian life which was laid at the beginning when we were saved. Since it has already been laid, there is no need to lay it again. If we fall away after being saved, we do not need to go back to repent of the things which we have repented of already. If we go back to repeat our past repentance, it means that we are going back to lay another foundation. If after falling away we come back and desire to go on with the Lord, we do not need to repeat our old repentance. We simply need to go on. Let us use again the illustration of construction work. If the work on a meeting hall is stopped after the laying of the foundation, there is no need to lay another foundation for the further building work. The workmen should simply build upon the foundation already laid. We may also use the illustration of running a race. If a runner falls after starting the race, he does not need to go back to start the race again. He simply needs to press on from the very place where he has fallen. Our Christian life is a building project and a race. If we fall away after we have begun, we do not need to go back to the beginning and start again; we only need to go on from where we fell.
Verse 4 says, “For it is impossible to renew again to repentance those who were once enlightened, and who have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit.” Many Christian teachers misinterpret this verse and many preachers misuse it. They claim that Hebrews 6 says that if we sin after believing in the Lord, it is impossible for us to repent and be forgiven. This is not the meaning of this verse. It means that after you have repented once and have been stirred up to go on with the Lord, you do not need to repent again. In the eyes of the Lord, it is impossible for you to do this. Once the foundation has been laid, it is impossible to lay it again. Those who were once enlightened, who have tasted of the heavenly gift, have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, have tasted the good word of God and the works of power of the coming age, laid the foundation already at the time they believed. Once they have fallen away and returned back, there is no need for them to lay the foundation again. They should just rise up, go on, and be brought on to maturity. There is no need to repeat their repentance, for “it is impossible to renew again” that repentance. Verse 1 indicates that this is not needed; verse 4 says that it is not possible; and verses 7 and 8 show that it is not right. Thus, this verse does not mean that it is impossible for a believer to be forgiven if he has sinned. It means that there is no need for a Christian who has fallen to go back to repeat his original repentance. In the eyes of God, this is impossible.
The heavenly gift mentioned in verse 4 refers to God’s giving of the heavenly things, such as His forgiveness, righteousness, divine life, peace, and joy at the time of our conversion. The Greek word translated “word” in verse 5 is rhema, meaning the instant word of God. The “good word of God” here refers to the word of the beginning of Christ mentioned in verse 1, which is the milk the Hebrew believers tasted when they believed in the Lord. Now they must go on to the deeper word, the word of righteousness (5:13), which is not mainly concerned with God’s redemption but with the way of His economy, and which is the solid food for them to reach maturity (v. 1).
The word “power” in verse 5 refers to the divine power, and the “coming age” refers to the age of the coming kingdom. The divine power of the coming kingdom is to restore, renew, and revive the things which have become old (Matt. 19:28). At the time of the believers’ regeneration (Titus 3:5), they all tasted this divine power that caused them to be restored, renewed, and revived.
Most Christian teachers say that the fallen-away one mentioned here is a false Christian. But how could one who has been enlightened, has tasted of the heavenly gift, has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and has tasted the good word of God and the works of power of the coming age be a false Christian? Most Christian teachers, not seeing the matter of reward and punishment, make a big mistake here. According to the context, such a fallen one is certainly a real Christian. He will never perish, but, as verse 8 reveals, he will suffer some punishment. Thus, he needs to come back and go on. In order to go on he does not need to go back to lay the foundation again. Even if he would go back to lay the foundation again, it would be impossible for him to do so, because whatever he would do could not be counted by God.
The words “fallen away” in verse 6 refer to the Hebrew Christians’ deviating from the pure Christian faith by returning to their old, traditional, Judaistic religion. In principle, this can be applied to any Christians who fall away from the right track of God’s way.
This verse also speaks of “crucifying again for themselves the Son of God, and putting Him to open shame.” The words “crucifying” and “putting” modify the predicate “renew” in verse 4. To renew again to repentance means to repeat the repentance which one already has. This is not needed. To do this means that we crucify again the Son of God and put Him to open shame. If we would try to return to our original repentance, we would be laying again the foundation. In the eyes of God, this is to crucify the Lord again. The Lord was crucified for us, and at our original repentance we accepted that. If we would return to our original repentance, we would be crucifying Him again and putting Him to open shame. We must never do this.
It is not right to lay the foundation of repentance again. It is a waste for anyone to do this. It would not only be wrong for the brothers to lay the foundation for the meeting hall once it had been laid; it would also be a waste.
At this point we need to read verses 7 and 8. “For the earth which drinks the rain which often comes upon it and brings forth vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is tilled, partakes of blessing from God; but bringing forth thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned.” Those who go back again and again to renew their original repentance are like the earth which drinks the rain which falls upon it and does not bring forth proper vegetation. The “rain” in verse 7 refers back to the five categories of good things mentioned in verses 4 and 5. Bringing forth vegetation is an illustration of being brought on to maturity. The believers, as the earth, are tilled for God’s sake that they might bring forth Christ as the vegetation to maturity. By this they partake of blessing from God. Christ is the proper vegetation. If instead of bringing forth Christ, we bring forth thorns and thistles, that will be a waste.
An unbelieving sinner is a real curse, but Christians who bear thorns and thistles are near a curse. Strictly speaking, the thorns and thistles in verse 8 refer to the traditional things of the old religion of the Hebrew Christians. The Greek word translated “disapproved” may also be rendered “disqualified,” “counted worthless,” “rejected,” “cast away.” If any believer would not be brought on to maturity but rather would fall back to the old things, he will be disapproved of by God. The believers, once saved, can never be a real curse. But if we do not go on to grow Christ, but rather hold on to things which displease God, we are near the curse of suffering the punishment of God’s governmental dealing. (Consider this with the discipline of chastisement in 12:7-8.) This is absolutely different from the suffering of eternal perdition, which is the real curse.
The earth can never be burned, but what it grows may be burned. Likewise, the believers can never be burned, but all they bring forth that is not according to God’s economy will be burned. The believers are God’s farm. Whatever they grow as wood, hay, and stubble will be burned (1 Cor. 3:9, 12). When the earth is burned, it is not lost; it is dealt with.
This portion of Hebrews 6 is a word of righteousness, not a sugar-coated word that many Christians like to hear. I do not know what the burning which is mentioned in this portion of God’s word will be like. I only know that the pure word of God tells us so. This word in Hebrews 6 is similar to the word regarding the burning of the wood, hay, and stubble and being saved “yet so as through fire” in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15. This is not the word of grace, the word of life, nor the good word; it is a sobering and solemn word — the word of righteousness.
The writer did not open this book by telling the Hebrew believers to go on. Before he said, “Let us be brought on to maturity,” he used five chapters to cover many wonderful items. The way to be brought on to maturity is in these five chapters.
In order to be brought on to maturity, we need to share with Christ in His attainments (1:9; 3:14). We are His partners and we share His anointing. The way to share with Him in His attainments is by faith. We do not need to understand that much. We simply need to believe the word which is the glad tidings for us today and say, “Praise the Lord, I am His partner. I have the position and the right to share with Him in His anointing.” Do not say that you lack the feeling of participating in His anointing. The more you say that you do not have the feeling, the less feeling you will have. Faith calls things not being as being. We believe what the word of God says, whether we feel it or not. The word of God says that we are a partner of Christ, and to this we must say, “Amen. I am a partner of Christ.” The word of God also says that He has been anointed and that, as His partners, we share in His anointing. To this we must also say, “Amen. I have a share in His anointing.”
If we would be brought on to maturity, we must be diligent to enter into the remaining Sabbath rest (4:9, 11). As we have seen, the remaining Sabbath rest today is the church life. We do not need to be that concerned about the coming kingdom in the future; we simply need to get into the church life today. Do not say, “Oh, in the past years I have been so sloppy. I hope I can still make it to enter into the kingdom in the future.” You need to forget your past, not care for the future, and enter into the church life today. The enemy is subtle. I am afraid that many of us still talk about, our past and have expectations for the future. Let us forget them both and be diligent and take action to be in the church life and in the race today.
We also need to come forward to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace (4:16). To grow in life, to be brought on to maturity, we need both God’s mercy and grace. It is impossible to grow by ourselves. It is God’s far-reaching mercy and sufficient grace that can bring us on to maturity. And the way to receive mercy and find grace is to come forward to the throne of grace. Thank God that for us today His throne is the throne of grace. We all need to practice coming forward to the throne of grace that “we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help.”
If we would grow to maturity, we need to leave the baby food, the word of the beginning, and feed on the solid word, the word of righteousness, in order to enjoy Christ as our High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec (5:9-10, 14). We have received Christ as our Redeemer and Savior, and He has come into us to be our life. This very Christ whom we have received as our life within is also our High Priest in the heavens according to the order of Melchisedec, whose function is not to offer the sacrifice for sin but to minister the riches of God for our supply. In order to grow into maturity we need to enjoy such a God-ministering Christ that we may participate in the riches of the divine element. This is the solid food, not the baby food. Most Christians stay on the baby food, not desiring the solid food and not experiencing anything of Christ as their Melchisedec. This book encourages us to go on by feeding on the solid food and enjoying the heavenly Christ that we may receive the rich element of God for our growth into maturity.
The beginning of chapter six is a strong conclusion encouraging us to practice all we have heard in the five foregoing chapters. If we do this and go on, we shall reach the goal and be matured. How simple this is! Let us all go on.
Now we come to the capstone of all we have covered in these messages — fleeing into the refuge with the anchor and the Forerunner (6:9-20).
Verse 18 speaks of having “fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” Have you ever heard that the New Testament tells us to flee into a refuge? The Greek word translated “have fled for refuge” means to flee intensively; it refers to an intensified fleeing. The Greek word does not have the meaning of refuge. The simple English equivalent is “fled.” The Greek word is the same word used in Acts 14:6, where we are told that the Apostle Paul fled the persecution in the city. Although it is not wrong to add the words “for refuge,” it may be better not to use them.
We are not only river crossers; we are also fleers. From what are we fleeing? From everything other than Christ and the church life. We must flee from the world, Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and from ourselves. We must flee the department stores, the course of this age, religion, our old concepts, and every kind of tradition. We must flee anything that keeps us away and holds us back from Christ. I have consulted a number of translations of this verse. Some versions say, “fled the world.” We must flee our old position, ambition, and self-love. We must flee everything. The writer of this book undoubtedly wanted the Hebrew believers to flee Judaism, their old religion. It would have been dangerous for them to remain in it; they had to flee. The Greek word for flee implies fleeing to a safeguard. This is the reason the translators added the words “for refuge.” The writer seemed to be saying, “Hebrew Christians, you are in a very dangerous situation and you need to flee to a safeguard.”
Where is this safeguard, this safety, into which we must flee? It is in the spirit, in the church, and in the heavenlies. What is there in the heavenlies? The Holy of Holies within the veil. The Hebrew Christians were in danger of being held back in the camp. They had to flee into the veil. The writer seemed to be saying, “Flee within the veil, into the Holy of Holies, into your spirit. Don’t stay in your staggering soul. Flee your wandering mind. Flee into your spirit where you can be safe.” Although it is difficult to say definitely what the refuge is, we may say that it is the heavenlies where the Lord Jesus is today.
According to the context of 6:9-20, the writer, using the word “anchor,” pictures us all as being on a stormy sea. Since we are in a boat sailing on a stormy sea, we need an anchor. Undoubtedly, the safeguard into which we must flee is our haven. This haven is in our spirit, in the church life, and in the Holy of Holies in the heavenlies where the Lord Jesus is. If we would stay in this haven, we must have an anchor. The anchor is our hope (vv. 18-19) which is constituted with two unchangeable things — God’s promise and God’s oath (vv. 12-18). God’s promise is confirmed by His oath. God’s promise is God’s word, and God’s oath is His final confirmation. By God’s promise and oath, both of which are unchangeable, we have our faith and patience, issuing in our hope which is the anchor of our soul. Our hope, as a secure and firm anchor, has entered into the Holy of Holies within the veil and holds on to it, and we may now enter in spirit (10:19-20). By this anchor of hope we are held to the Holy of Holies. Without it, we may shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:19).
We must flee whatever situation we are in. Every situation is a stormy sea. Are you rich? Your riches are a stormy sea. Are you poor? Your poverty is a stormy sea. To say that every situation is a stormy sea simply means that it can hold you back, keeping you from entering into today’s rest. This is the danger. Consider the type of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Although maybe two million came out of Egypt, only two of them entered into the rest. All the others were distracted. Do we not face the same possibility today? There is not one thing which cannot hold us back. Even the eldership in the church can hold you back. Elders, you must flee the eldership. We are the fleers. We even must flee our own country and locality. The writer included himself in this matter of fleeing, for he used the word “we” in verse 18. After saying so many good things in the foregoing chapters, he concluded with the word “flee.”
The writer now tells us that Christ is not only the Captain of our salvation, but also our Forerunner. The Lord Jesus as the Forerunner took the lead to pass through the stormy sea and enter the heavenly haven to be the High Priest for us according to the order of Melchisedec. As such a Forerunner, He is the Captain of our salvation (2:10). As the Forerunner, He has cut the way to glory, and as the Captain, He has entered into glory, into the Holy of Holies within the veil. In order to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil, the Lord Jesus fled everything. He fled His mother. He fled His brothers (Matt. 12:46-50). He fled Judaism and entered within the veil. Here we are not told that Jesus entered into the heavens, but that He entered “into that which is within the veil.” He entered into the presence of God. He fled everything to enter into the presence of God within the veil, where we anchor our hope with full assurance (vv. 19, 11).
After covering so many messages thus far in our Life-study of Hebrews, we must pay attention to this one thing — fleeing. We must flee everything because everything is a danger. Flee your old concepts. Flee your non-church life. If you do not have the church life, you are on the stormy sea without a safeguard. Your wandering mind is a stormy sea. Flee into your spirit and into the church life that you may have a safeguard. This fleeing is the real river crossing. I am concerned that many of those reading this message will not flee and cross the river. Let us flee into our spirit and into the church life. Let us flee into the veil, into the Holy of Holies.
